TUESDAY • NOVEMBER 26, 2013
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ISSUE 16 • VOLUME 125
Fourth-year awarded Rhodes Scholarship Sara Cao Maroon Contributor Fourth-year Samuel Greene has been named a Rhodes Scholar, the University’s first in three years. Greene is the 49th student from UChicago to win the prestigious award, and will continue his studies in physical and theoretical chemistry at the University of Oxford next fall. He chose to apply for the scholarship so he could study climate change in a non-American context. He spent this past September in Alaska studying the dynamics of how lake freezing changes the rate of methane emissions. Greene said he became interested in energy and the environment as a result of growing up in Hawaii, where he saw how the limited
resources available on a small island contributed to population stress. “I knew I wanted to pursue a career addressing climate change and how it affects the whole world, including Hawaii,” he said. The Rhodes Scholarship, which includes tuition, expenses, and a stipend, is awarded to 32 American undergraduates annually to facilitate their postgraduate studies at Oxford. The application process for the scholarship was very demanding, Greene said. Much of the difficulty arose from “trying to figure out what I wanted to say about myself, and how I wanted to say it. Then I had to manage to stick all these ideas together in a story and connect that story to climate change.”
Second in command visits the Second City Vice President Joe Biden speaks to students during an off-the-record, closed to the press event hosted by the Institute of Politics on Monday afternoon, part of a daylong trip to Chicago.
RHODES continued on page 2
COURTESY OF UCHICAGO INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
Legal hurdles delay Yusho Hamid Bendaas News Staff While Matthias Merges’s newest restaurant, A10, opened earlier this month, the opening of his other Hyde Park project Yusho, a second iteration of his popular restaurant in Logan Square, has been stalled by zoning technicalities and an ongoing lawsuit. The primary obstacle to Yusho’s opening is its location
in a “dry” precinct, which is bounded by East 53rd Street to the north, South Kimbark Avenue to the west, East 55th Street to the south, and South Dorchester Avenue to the east. The University recently circulated a petition to overturn an existing alcohol ban in the area. Residents around the designated Yusho site—the former Third World Café at East 53rd Street and South Kimbark Avenue—filed
a lawsuit challenging the petition, claiming that the University had used bullying and manipulative tactics to collect signatures. On November 8, a Cook County Circuit judge chose to proceed with the lawsuit, which means Yusho is unlikely to open this year as was originally planned. In addition to circulating the petition, the University— which owns the land—applied YUSHO continued on page 2
Univ. pushing for Obama library Ankit Jain News Editor The University for the first time has openly expressed interest in the Obama presidential library as the University of Illinois at Chicago and Chicago State University launch public campaigns to try to bring the library to their respective campuses. “The University of Chicago was fortunate to have President Obama on its Law School faculty for 12 years, and to benefit from
Mrs. Obama’s leadership in several senior administrative roles,” Susan Sher, senior adviser to University President Robert Zimmer, said in an e-mailed statement. “The City of Chicago and the South Side in particular could benefit greatly from the cultural opportunities and economic development that a presidential library could bring.” Sher, who was Michelle Obama’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2011, is leading efforts to bring the library to campus, according to law professor Geoffrey Stone,
head of the committee exploring the logistics of a potential library. Institute of Politics (IOP) Director and Obama Senior Advisor David Axelrod (A.B. ’76) also hopes the library will be at the University. “Obviously, the University of Chicago is a formative place for [Obama]. And we look forward, if he does bring his library here, to synergy between the library and the IOP, because there’s a lot we can do together,” Axelrod said in an interview last year.
Early action applications set another record, continue yearly rise Sarah Manhardt Maroon Contributor
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CHICAGO MAROON
More students than ever applied for early action to the College this year, marking the fifth consecutive year of an increase in these applications. This year, 11,143 students applied through the College’s non-binding early action program, an 8-percent rise from last year’s 10,316 applicants. In a press release, the University reports an increase of 6.7 percent, due to an additional 130 early applicants from last year not accounted for in the initial official numbers that were released. The College accepted 13.4
percent of applicants from the first round of admissions last year, according to The New York Times blog “The Choice.” The number of early action applications has risen 89.4 percent since 2009, when James Nondorf became the dean of college admissions and financial aid and when the College began using the Common Application. The College has seen, on average, a 20-percent increase in the number of early applicants every year since 2010. According to University spokesperson Jeremy Manier, what this year’s comparatively low rate of increase signifies is unclear
for now. “I think the expectation is that at some point you’ll see the number reach the natural level, and it’s difficult to tell whether we’re there yet,” Manier said. Last year, early applications comprised about a third of the total pool of 30,396 applications. The overall acceptance rate was 8.8 percent. According to a University press release, this year’s early applicant pool is also highly diverse. Students applied from every state and 79 countries, also a record high for the College. Domestically, the most EA continued on page 2
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
What we’re thankful for » Page 3
Hunger Games’ latest is better than stuffing » Page 5
Women make history with fourthplace finish at NCAAs » Back Page
Pressing issues: My first gingerbread house » Page 5
First-years impress at Concordia University Open » Page 7
What it means to be “proIsrael” » Page 4
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | November 26, 2013
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NEWS IN BRIEF Molecular Engineering doubles faculty The Institute of Molecular Engineering has hired four new senior faculty members, including a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” fellow, a National Academy of Engineering member, and Science magazine’s 2010 Breakthrough of the Year awardee.
Giulia Galli, Melody Swartz, and Jeffrey Hubbell will join the Institute in July, while Andrew Cleland will join next November, according to a University press release. The addition of these professors will double the current size of the Institute’s faculty. Galli and Cleland will also work as senior scientists at Argonne National Laboratory. Commenting on the qualifica-
tions of the new faculty, Institute Director Matthew Tirrell said in the press release that “Giulia, Andrew, Melody and Jeff are all creative leaders in their respective fields.” Launched in 2011, the Institute will welcome its first class of Ph.D. students next fall, with an undergraduate program in the works. —Sean Pierre
Greene will research renewable energy technologies, fossil fuel dependency
Residents worry rezoning means more changes in store YUSHO continued from front
to rezone the area from a residential to commercial designation, approved earlier this year. Robin Kaufman (A.B. ’65), who lives near the site, opposes the rezoning and worries that Yusho was an excuse for a rezoning that will lead to additional changes in the area. “If you want to bring Yusho to Hyde Park, why did [the University] choose a dry, residential block to do it? They own half of 53rd Street, they own [a lot] of Lake Park. Why have they chosen the one [property] where they have to go through a big
struggle—change the zoning, lift the alcohol restriction—for one little restaurant?” Merges, however, believes the Third World Café space is a better fit, economically and aesthetically, for his second Yusho location. Its relatively small square footage convinced Merges that Yusho could be “a viable business,” and the “old handmade look on this great corner with big windows” fits his vision for the restaurant’s appearance and ambiance. While he had tried to support the process by going to community meetings and hearing directly from
critics of the changes, Merges said he was aware the controversy extended beyond his own endeavors. “There’s a dynamic between the University and Hyde Park residents who have lived here for a really long time, and we respect that….We’re caught in the middle, I would say.” Kaufman also said that her concerns were not specific to the restaurant. “It’s not a question of Yusho in particular. I’m concerned about what happens three or five years down the line...because they’re trying to rezone a big area for one tiny little store.”
University: Applications reflect geographic, cultural diversity EA continued from front
number of applications by state came from Illinois, followed by California and New York. Cultural diversity increased as well, with more applications from
African-American and Latino students, according to the press release. Internationally, the leading countries by number of applications were China, India, Canada, and Singapore.
Early applicants will be notified by mid-December of their admissions decision. Regular decision applications are due January 1, and these students will be notified by late March 2014.
Welcome all Students and Faculty
First Impressions are everything....
s i w Ho
? e l i m s r u yo
Fourth-year Samuel Greene was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship on Saturday, becoming the 49th UChicago student to receive this honor. COURTESY OF ROBERT KOZLOFF
RHODES continued from front
At Oxford, Greene will pursue a D.Phil., the British term for a Ph.D., after which he hopes to conduct quantum mechanical research to develop renewable energy technologies, such as solar cells and batteries, and to reduce the global dependency on fossil fuels. Last year he won a Goldwater Scholarship, which is awarded to exceptional students of the sciences. He credits the curriculum at UChicago with preparing him for his future studies and research. “I think what’s different about chemistry here is that they teach you more abstract thinking methods and less formulaic techniques,” he said. “That’s taught me to think more flexibly.” While he is excited about
moving to England, Greene said he will miss the community at UChicago. “I have a good feeling being here. And I’m sure I’ll find that at Oxford as well, but it’ll be less familiar. I’ll miss feeling at home here.” Greene plans to graduate in June with both a B.S. in chemistry and an M.S. in physical chemistry. In addition to taking all graduatelevel courses, he is currently writing his master’s thesis on the results of his research in Alaska. “It’s a lot of work, but I really enjoy it,” he said. Out of this year’s scholarship recipients, eight were from Harvard and three were from Yale. The last Rhodes Scholars from UChicago were three students selected in 2010.
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VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed NOVEMBER 26, 2013
What we’re thankful for A few things to keep in mind this Thanksgiving The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 REBECCA GUTERMAN Editor-in-Chief
On Thursday, someone is probably going to ask you to cite your thanks before digging into that turkey. Here are some things of which we’ll be thinking:
SAM LEVINE Editor-in-Chief EMILY WANG Managing Editor
CELIA BEVER Senior Editor VICENTE FERNANDEZ Senior Editor MATTHEW SCHAEFER Senior Editor
Thanksgiving break: Because you couldn’t go one more week without the puffy winter coat that you definitely did not think you’d need at the beginning of October.
ANKIT JAIN News Editor
Tornadoes: Hell not only freezes over; it blows.
LINDA QIU News Editor KRISTIN LIN Viewpoints Editor EMMA BRODER Arts Editor WILL DART Arts Editor LAUREN GURLEY Arts Editor SARAH LANGS Sports Editor JAKE WALERIUS Sports Editor SONIA DHAWAN Head Designer
The new Chipotle on East 53rd Street: Get to the end of the line and you might find yourself at Qdoba in Hutch. Overcrowded dining halls: You might as well wait for a burrito from Chipotle. Kuko: Makes the line worth the wait.
MADHU SRIKANTHA Senior Editor MARINA FANG News Editor
but did you do the readings for today? Yeah, that’s what we thought.
Proof by contradiction: Because every math P-set is one. Start with the assumption that you will be able to finish it in the hour before class. You’ll find the contradiction arises quite naturally.
UCIJAM: Artists and journalists can now commiserate about not having jobs, together. The East Shuttle: Rumor has it that administrators were considering Midway Airport as a pickup location for the shuttle, but chose Ratner instead.
KEVIN WANG Online Editor MARA MCCOLLOM Social Media Editor CONNOR CUNNINGHAM Head Copy Editor SHERRY HE Head Copy Editor JEN XIA Head Copy Editor BEN ZIGTERMAN Head Copy Editor JAMIE MANLEY Photo Editor TIFFANY TAN Photo Editor COLIN BRADLEY Grey City Editor JOY CRANE Grey City Editor THOMAS CHOI Assoc. News Editor
The life of the mind: Because nothing says that we’re a university that believes in education as an end in and of itself quite like the constant repetition that we’re a university that believes in education as an end in and of itself.
The Central Shuttle that caught on fire: Providing some warmth on these cold winter nights.
That kid in your Sosc class that always has something to say: Annoying as hell,
Hallowed Grounds: Sans cubicles.
Leadership Conversations: In all seriousness.
The new athletics website: Now everyone can know exactly when they’re missing our sports teams play.
UChicago Crushes, Your witty words of desperation are an excellent source of procrastination.
UChicago Electronic Army: We now know in the creepiest way possible that Freenters is not secure.
Eugene Fama: For winning the Nobel for “empirical analysis of asset prices.”
The IOP: For giving all of us the opportunity to say that one time we almost had the chance to see [insert famous politician]...if only we could get in. Chance the Rapper: For not being Nelly. Those decorative bowls of fruits/vegetables in Bartlett: Do you know how many bell peppers we’ve pocketed? Wendy’s: For when you really need that late night frost—wait, there’s still no… there’s still no Wendy’s? When, uh, when is that, um… The Divergent trailer: For revealing that the Reg and Mansueto would in fact exist in a dystopian world. UChicago Crushes: #5934 Dear
Lars Peter Hansen: For winning the Nobel for something no newspaper can explain. All that campus construction: For forcing us to take the scenic route on our way from the Quad to Booth. Harold’s: For making the walk to CVS a crash course in aromatherapy. Jack Cella (X’73): The retiring Sem CoOp general manager has helped maintain one of the best bookstores in the city for 45 years. Back-to-back four-day weekends: Keeping alive the delusion that, yes, you can catch up on two weeks of reading.
The Editorial Board consists of the Editors-in-Chief and the Viewpoints Editors.
ALEX HAYS Assoc. News Editor HARINI JAGANATHAN Assoc. News Editor STEPHANIE XIAO Assoc. News Editor ELEANOR HYUN Assoc. Viewpoints Editor LIAM LEDDY Assoc. Viewpoints Editor ANNA HILL Assoc. Arts Editor TATIANA FIELDS Assoc. Sports Editor SAM ZACHER Assoc. Sports Editor PETER TANG Assoc. Photo Editor FRANK YAN Assoc. Photo Editor
TYRONALD JORDAN Business Manager TAMER BARSBAY Director of Business Research SHAWN CHEN Director of Internal Marketing
Hacktivism SNAP Judgments is not activism
Republican budget cuts reek of cocaine and hypocrisy
Freenters hack shows how radicalism is selfdefeating
ANNIE ZHU Director of External Marketing VINCENT MCGILL Delivery Coordinator ANNIE CANTARA Designer CARINA BAKER Designer AURNA HASNIE Designer JANE JUN Designer CASEY KIM Designer JONAH RABB Designer NICHOLAS ROUSE Designer KRYSTEN BRAY Copy Editor SOPHIE DOWNES Copy Editor MICHELLE LEE Copy Editor CHELSEA LEU Copy Editor KATIE LEU Copy Editor JOHN LOTUS Copy Editor KATARINA MENTZELOPOULOS Copy Editor OLIVIA STOVICEK Copy Editor CHRISTINE SCHMIDT Copy Editor ANDY TYBOUT Copy Editor LAN WANG Copy Editor RUNNAN YANG Copy Editor
The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters Circulation: 5,500. The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2013 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 CONTACT News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Design@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com
Ellen Wiese Viewpoints Staff Dissent is something of a legacy on college campuses. Even with the famous protests of the ’60s a halfcentury behind us, colleges remain the most liberal areas of American life, with only a few notable exceptions (I’m looking at you, Brigham Young University). The concentration of youthful zeal—a certain distance from vested society—and intellectual coming-of-age combines into rallies, sit-ins, marches, and political legwork—in short, activism. But whether in the bombings of the Weathermen or the hacking scandals of Anonymous, activism is only a short leap from radicalism. In the dialogue following the Freenters debacle, blame has been laid on everyone from the actual perpetrators to the Freenters staff to the college administration. But with an eye to the long term, this event speaks to a trend of radicalism on any college campus, something worrying in its mechanics and saddening in its application. On November 14, a group calling itself the UChicago Electronic Army hacked into the servers of a free printing service on campus and posted its users’ information online. The group criticized the service’s lax security and the decision of students to use it, going so far as to call users Freentards. While this event does, of FREENTERS continued on page 4
By Anastasia Golovashkina Viewpoints Columnist Remember Trey Radel, the House Republican from Florida who was recently caught trying to buy $250 of crack cocaine? Earlier this year, Radel joined his fellow House Republicans in casting a party-line vote to cut $39 billion from SNAP, the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly referred to as food stamps. He has also voted in favor of making drug testing a mandatory prerequisite for welfare and made a name for himself as an ardent opponent of health reform, voting for its repeal while in office, and after his arrest, even blaming it for his cocaine bust in an official statement. Radel exemplifies a lot of what’s wrong with the way we view and treat our nation’s poor. He has a clear misconception of who the poor are—an error that is significant because it results in the wasteful and ineffective spending cuts that Radel champions. The SNAP cuts misunderstand how important the program is for low-income families. The cuts that Republicans like Radel voted for amount to the equivalent of 15 billion meals, or more than half of Feeding America’s total yearly output. That’s on top of the $5 billion
reduction that already went into effect on November 1, which cut as much as $36 in monthly benefits from a program used by about one-seventh of our population. For a nation with an annual budget of about $3.5 trillion, these numbers seem negligible. But for a family struggling to make ends meet, they’re devastating—all the more so because of stagnant wages and rising food prices. Though these cuts will result in a minor reduction of this year’s budget deficit, they may actually add to our long-term national debt. According to the Census Bureau, food stamps have helped bring at least four million people out of poverty and kept millions more from becoming poorer than they already are. Indeed, Radel and others’ mantra of “balancing the budget” is but a pathetic and deceptive guise for what is really an agenda to further disenfranchise and fundamentally humiliate our nation’s most disadvantaged. Radel has also voted to make drug testing a requirement for food stamp and welfare recipients. Never mind that the practice doesn’t actually work, wasting more money on the tests than it could ever hope to save on disqualified recipients. Utah, for example, spent more than $30,000 to only turn up 12 positives. Radel’s own home state of Florida only turned up 108. And while third-degree drug possession carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and up to $250,000 in fines, Radel isn’t even going to jail—he’s going to rehab, a treatment covered by his government-provided health insurance, which offers mental health parity
and, yes, covers drug rehabilitation. It’s therefore somewhat ironic that the Florida Representative had been making something of a name for himself as an ardent opponent of the Affordable Care Act, a major component of which requires all health insurers to extend similar mental health benefits to all of their customers. If only everyone were so lucky to be given the second chance that Radel was. Sharanda Jones, for example, was recently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a first-time offense very similar to Radel’s. But this column is not just about drugs, food stamps, or health insurance. It’s not even about Trey Radel. It’s about the need to stop thinking of the economically disenfranchised as somehow being “lesser” human beings—to stop treating the poor as second-class citizens and to start recognizing that any one of us could fall into a comparable predicament at any moment. More than that, far too many of us think that because someone is poor, they don’t deserve to have things like a car or cell phone— which, depending on where someone lives, can be as necessary as having a roof over their heads. This holiday season, let’s look past our preconceived notions of who someone is based on their economic standing, and instead approach them with an open mind to who they really are and more importantly who they can become. Anastasia Golovashkina is a thirdyear in the College majoring in public policy and economics.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | November 26, 2013
Of lips and sealants
What it means to be pro-Israel
Katz’s new article confuses criticism with censure
President and CEO of Hillel seems to misunderstand stance
Jake Bittle Viewpoints Contributor
Daniela Tolchinsky Viewpoints Contributor
In the November 22 issue of the Maroon, readers can find yet another voice joining the chorus of responses to Eliora Katz’s “My Lips Are Sealed” (11/08/13) article: Katz’s own. In her follow-up article, “Sorry I’m Not Sorry: In Defense of Viewpoints,” Katz bemoans a pseudo-liberalism that does not want to hear any viewpoints that are not its own. What she says boils down to this: Critics of “My Lips Are Sealed” should stop telling her that her views and language are offensive, because they’re then “morphing into the very bigots they loudly claim to criticize.” Katz warns us not to “silence differing voices” and asks us to allow her to share her viewpoint “sans unwarranted censure.” We have, so far, this progression of opinions: Katz’s explanation of her refusal to participate in hookup culture, various commenters’ complaints that Katz is offending all kinds of groups including Muslims and rape victims, Benjamin Gammage’s warning that a discourse on hookup culture should proceed without slut-shaming (“Letter: Modesty Needn’t SlutShame” 11/12/13), Haleigh Miller’s defense of her right to wear whatever she wants (“Let Me Choose to Seal My Lips” 11/19/13), and Katz’s subsequent defense of her ability to speak from her conservative viewpoint on certain issues.
That a plurality of viewpoints is necessary for healthy discourse to proceed is a statement with which no one mentioned above would disagree. But a plurality of viewpoints includes not just the right to speak from one’s viewpoint on issues, but to speak from one’s viewpoint about other people’s viewpoints, especially if another’s viewpoint is harmful or questionable. I don’t think that any of the responders to Katz’s article were saying that her Orthodox Judaism offended them. What may have offended them, however, was the way her language (“my soul was raped,” “hills of flesh,” her invocation of a Muslim stranger who never gets to speak for herself, and her HieronymusBoschian description of a frat party) might be unfair or injurious to rape victims, Muslims, or those whose sexual choices differ from hers. If we trust the Torah’s Book of Proverbs, then we know that life and death are in the power of the tongue. It follows from this that one simply should neither say things that hurt other people nor treat them unfairly. If one encounters speech that strikes one as harmful or unfair, then, one has every right to speak out against it. Rather than clouding discourse with “a haze of political correctness,” articles like Miller’s and Gammage’s are productive in that they seek to define what is OK to say on the topic of sexual promiscuity and what is not. Just because they take issue with something in Katz’s expression of her opinion does not
mean they wish to prevent her from holding or expressing her opinion altogether. It is fine to speak from a conservative viewpoint about not participating in hookup culture. But if you speak objectionably—like Katz has done—people will object. This is not indicative of “oversensitivity in recent times” or “post-modernist non-doctrine doctrine”—this is healthy discourse proceeding the way it should. I don’t actually see why Katz would have any beef with the fact that people are so vocal about responding to her article. If people really wanted to censor her, wouldn’t they just ignore her altogether? What she says in “Sorry I’m Not Sorry” amounts, unfortunately, to “you shouldn’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t tell you,” which is a participation in the very “unwarranted censure” she maligns. At the outset, “Sorry” seems like a commentary on the state of discourse as a whole, but it soon becomes clear that this is pretty much only about Katz’s article. If any of the responders to Katz’s article had actually claimed that she should not espouse her conservative viewpoint, then “Sorry” would be a worthwhile defense of pluralism in discourse. No one, however, has told Katz to seal her lips: Others have only opened theirs in response, and responses to discourse are an integral part of discourse itself. Jake Bittle is a first-year in the College.
SUBMISSIONS The Chicago Maroon welcomes opinions and responses from its readers. Send op-ed submissions and letters to: The Chicago Maroon attn: Viewpoints 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 E-mail: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com The editors reserve the right to edit materials for clarity and space. Letters to the editor should be limited to 400 words. Op-ed submissions, 800 words.
Today, Eric Fingerhut is coming to campus. The President and CEO of Hillel recently penned an oped in the New York Jewish Week entitled “Working Together to Expand Support for Israel on Campus” with Jonathan Kessler, leadership development director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). I am an American Jewish college student and I support Israel—I also have a clear idea of what being pro-Israel means, and how my support manifests itself when it comes to pro-Israel activism. Fingerhut and Kessler apparently do not. Outlining their successes in building a strong pro-Israel community on American college campuses, the co-authors emphasize the importance of curbing antiIsrael rhetoric and supporting Israel by celebrating its “remarkable story.” Their argument can be summed up by their claim that they “will never stop celebrating the remarkable story of the rebirth of Israel,” and will continually “support Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.” They seem to be arguing that to be pro-Israel simply means to advocate for the existence of the state of Israel as a national home for the Jewish people. This, however, is only partly true. Being pro-Israel also means actively advocating for its future as a secure, democratic state and Jewish homeland at peace with its neighbors. This gets to the core issue of Fingerhut and Kessler’s op-ed. Yes, an incredible pro-Israel community exists in the United States. The strength of that community is largely due to Hillel and AIPAC’s hard work. Now the question is, what can that community do for Is-
rael? Secretary of State John Kerry provided us with the perfect answer when he called on American Jews to “join the great constituency for peace,” and support him in finding a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s critical for leaders like Fingerhut and Kessler to realize that in order for “American Jewish students to be effective pro-Israel activists on and beyond the campus,” as Hillel and AIPAC claim they want, these organizations must lead the way in helping achieve peace and security through a two-state solution. Without a two-state solution, Israel will not continue to exist as a Jewish democratic state. The status quo is simply unsustainable. Just last week, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni argued that without a twostate solution, Israel will suffer enormously in both diplomatic and economic arenas. Carmi Gillon, former head of the Shin Bet— Israel’s internal Security Service—similarly claimed that only once two states are achieved will Israelis be able to live in peace and security. It is a widely accepted notion that a two-state solution must come to fruition, and this can only happen with the help and support of the United States. These are difficult political realities for both Israelis and pro-Israel American Jews to grapple with. However, students on American college campuses will only benefit from exposure to these realities. The undergraduate college experience is characterized by deep and engaging intellectual discussion. It’s time for colleges’ Jewish and pro-Israel organizations to facilitate such deep and engaging discussion around Israel. Two weeks ago, here at UChicago, over 60 students
came to hear Gillon speak about the complex security concerns Israel faces in the context of a two-state solution. This Hillel-hosted event provoked students to ask thoughtful questions about such things as settlements, government policies, and public perceptions among Israelis and Palestinians. Another major goal of Hillel and AIPAC, as articulated in Fingerhut and Kessler’s op-ed, is to curb anti-Israel rhetoric on campus. In order for students to be able to effectively change the conversation, they must necessarily be exposed to the complex issues on the ground. To be pro-Israel cannot mean that students must defend Israel as a state that can do no wrong. It should be OK to criticize Israeli policy. In fact, distinguishing between criticism of policy and criticism of Israel is more effective in making campus conversations more pro-Israel—it allows American Jews to criticize the occupation, while at the same time celebrating the positive aspects of Israel and its “remarkable story.” Creating such a space for this kind of discussion on college campuses is essential. In order to be an effective advocate, one must have a deep and intimate knowledge of that for which one is advocating. This notion applies to pro-Israel advocacy as well; Israel is not an amorphous patch of land on the other side of the world that we call the Jewish state. It is a real, complicated, diverse, politically active country—and we need to do a better job of exposing students to that fact. Only then can we truly call ourselves pro-Israel. Daniela Tolchinsky is a thirdyear in the College and a board member of J Street UChicago.
Radicalism can be prevented through constructive, respectful conversation FREENTERS continued from page 3 course, bring up the issue of security, that’s not the most important aspect of the situation. The conditions that created this group and justified their actions remain prevalent on campus, undermining both trust and positive change. The Freenters situation is an extreme case, but it’s nevertheless an outgrowth of a certain outlook. It stems from the assumption that the majority of students share certain beliefs—for example, liberalism, religious ambivalence, or ambition. These values themselves are neither positive nor negative (regardless of personal opinion), but a perception of oneself as the representation of a majority can have a dangerous effect. It becomes a form of groupthink,
and individual responsibility takes a backseat to group attitudes and actions. For example, during the tornadoes a few weeks ago, sirens were blaring, weather alerts were going off on our phones, and e-mails were appearing in our inboxes; yet, those in my house’s fifth-floor lounge stayed there, watching the wind throw rain against the floor-to-ceiling windows. The group considered itself to be safe, so individuals set aside their personal responsibility. That case is innocuous enough. But take it a step further, and individual passivity transforms into group activity. At some point during the first few weeks of the quarter, I heard a group of people joking about an upcoming meeting of the College Republicans. “We should go and just
troll,” one suggested, to broad agreement. I’m fairly certain that nothing came of this—and, again, it’s nowhere close to radical. But the idea that a group with opposing views somehow doesn’t deserve respect is a dangerous one. As honest discussion is pushed aside in favor of righteous aggression, radicalism replaces activism. Suddenly, hacking an uncontroversial printing service because its security left something to be desired is a logical next step. In the dialogue following this debacle, activism must stand apart from radicalism. Activism, whether in picketing the hospital over trauma center controversy or in canvassing for a political campaign, introduces dialogue to create specific change. Radicalism, as with the Freenters
case, ignores discussion in favor of dramatic action—and ultimately undermines its own position. Radical movements contain considerable and even admirable amounts of motivated energy, incorporating the recognition of a wrong with the capacity to defy set systems. But by excluding any sort of respect, it forfeits its claim on legitimacy and undermines its own efforts. Yes, Freenters will probably overhaul its security systems. But the fact that a beneficial communal service was attacked and its users’ privacy compromised is a blow to any sense of trust on campus, a sacrifice that outweighs the hypothetical gain. In the end, radicalism isn’t brave. It isn’t mature, critical, or worldchanging. It’s a lazy refusal of dis-
cussion, setting aside legitimate approaches to a problem in favor of reactionary aggression. It damages our community and ourselves, and it undermines the legitimacy of positive activism. The Freenters situation is deeply saddening, not only because it reflects the radical immaturity of a miniscule minority of the student body, but also because it portrays the conditions that allow such a group to develop. Conversation, even with those you find utterly mistaken, is the only means by which such radicalism can be prevented— and as things now stand, honest discussion is less important than “being right.” Ellen Wiese is a first-year in the College.
ARTS
Heartlandia NOVEMBER 26, 2013
Hunger Games’ latest is better than stuffing Despite the aforementioned wait before the story reaches its central struggle, the movie maintains a very consistent sense of urgency throughout. The viewer is neatly transported through a long line of important plot points, from Katniss’s attempts to act for the cameras in order to protect her family, to the threats of uprising, to preparation for the games, and finally to the games themselves. The result is one of the bestpaced movies of the year. Some writers or directors might have been tempted to speed up or half-ass the pregames part of the movie, but
CATCHING FIRE Francis Lawrence
The second installment of the Hunger Games series was directed by Francis Lawrence, father of Jennifer Lawrence.
AMC River East
COURTESY OF LIONSGATE
James Mackenzie Arts Staff How far into a movie called The Hunger Games does it take to reach the titular event? The first movie takes over an hour to arrive at the games themselves, and its sequel, Catching Fire, takes even longer (approximately an hour and a half in a two-
and-a-half-hour running time) for Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and her fellow tributes to be sent into the reality TV battlefield that the books and movies center around. But this delay plays to the movie’s unexpected strengths, which lie not in its action but in its characters, acting, and dramatic tension. The film takes place almost
a year after the end of the first movie and sees its protagonists Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) trying to adjust to their new lives as victors of the past games and as fake lovers— a move they made in the first movie to help maintain the government’s propagandist façade of well-being. After lower-class citizens begin looking at Katniss
and other victors as symbols of uprising, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) decides to wipe out most of the living victors—including Katniss—in a special Hunger Games. Director Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) demonstrates a level of craft and patience beyond his range of experience in what is by far his largest project yet.
Lawrence understands that all of the struggles within the games themselves really come from the psychological and emotional struggles of the characters. Since those elements are set up before the games even begin, Lawrence devotes great effort and attention to detail on those scenes. Moments such as the one in which a citizen is executed during
a protest, or in which Katniss and Peeta pretend to be in love for the cameras, are just as memorable and important to this movie as any scene in the games themselves. All of the other requisite elements remain solid as well. The special effects are good enough that one doesn’t think about them while watching. The acting is a bit more nuanced from most of the actors (the addition of Philip Seymour Hoffman helps), though Lawrence seems to lack some intensity in her role when the scene doesn’t explicitly require it of her. Her performances in other films are still much better. Woody Harrelson continues his strong, darkly humorous turn as Haymitch, the drunken mentor, and Sutherland seems to relish the extra material he gets to work with in this sequel after a mostly forgettable role in the first movie. In a time of so many soulless blockbusters and thoughtless cash grabs on young adult literature, Catching Fire is more than a cut above. It elevates source material that was already very good, so it will be exciting to see what director Lawrence can do when adapting the far weaker third book in the series.
Pressing issues: My first gingerbread house Will Dart Arts Editor Gingerbread, and gingerbread houses, date back at least to the 16th century. Taking inspiration from European folk tales, the biscuit cottage has long been a favorite of courtiers and grade schoolers alike. They’re quite fun to make, and if you need to get any holiday cheer out of your system before January, I would recommend gingerbread house construction as a worthy outlet. Like any good construction project, the key is to start with good dough. As per its Grimm roots, the taste of true gingerbread should recall the bittersweet, macabre quality of an Olde English Christmas. Be sure to add plenty of dark molasses and fresh ginger, whichever recipe you decide on. Store your gingerbread dough in the fridge until you’re ready to build your stately ginger-mansion. In the interim, run to the store and pick up some cake frosting, or prepare your own with sugar and egg whites. Make sure it’s thick and sticky; many a gingerbread house has met its tasty end through poor mortar application. (Did you know that the largest gingerbread man ever constructed weighed over 1,000 pounds and stood 20 feet tall? It was created in 2006 by the people of Smithville, Texas, who
later put Nicolas Cage inside the ginger-colossus and set it aflame, as is customary.) Using a rolling pin and a bit of flour, place your now-chilled dough on a cutting board and flatten it evenly to a depth of no less than five millimeters. You don’t want your delicious building materials to crumble during construction. Now take a sharp knife and cut out the shapes you’ll be using for your edible home. Paper stencils can be helpful for this part, particularly if your gingerbread dream home involves a complex floor plan. I just aim for vaguely square sheets when I’m cutting, so my houses tend to look more Neolithic. Add sugar mammoth bones and moss (green frosting) for detail. Transfer your gingerbread pieces to a pan and bake until crisp. Allow them to cool sufficiently before placing on your base. I built my house in a pie pan, but any clean, suitably flat surface will do, preferably one in a nice neighborhood. If you’re planning to have a gingerbread family live in your home, consider scoping out local gingerbread schools before settling on a location. Trace the foundations of your house on the base with lines of frosting. Press your walls onto the foundations firmly, using support (e.g. a jam jar, or whatever you have handy) if necessary. Place each wall one
at a time, adding icing cement to the sides as you do so. Your gingerbread house should be structurally stable and free of any gingerbread-building code violations. Once all your walls are in place, go sledding for a few hours while the frosting hardens. When you get back, mix up a pot of hot cocoa, and repeat the frosting-and-placing
operation with the roof. Your construction project is almost done—now it’s time to decorate. You can’t go wrong with the classic look of gumdrops and white icing, but don’t limit yourself to current gingerbread fashions. Use almond slivers for roof shingles or candy canes as functional support beams. If
you’re building a gingerbread house in the neo-Gothic style, consider using rock candy for stained glass windows. The only limit is your imagination, and possibly your finger dexterity. Whatever you decide on, be sure that your final product is sufficiently homey, whatever that means to you. The gingerbread house, and the holiday
season it belongs to, are ultimately a celebration of home and all its pleasures. When we build our little cookie cottage, we remember that there is no greater blessing in life than to be surrounded by strong walls, a sturdy roof, a thick door or two, and the people that you love, safe and warm inside. It’s hard to imagine anything sweeter.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | November 26, 2013
6
Dench, Coogan click in Philomena La Traviata just shy of magnifique
Michael Cheiken Maroon Contributor
Director Stephen Frears, having already brought the film community Dirty Pretty Things and The Queen, has once again delivered a cinematic masterpiece. His most recent work, Philomena, depicts the struggle of Philomena Lee ( Judi Dench) in her quest to locate her son, who was given up for adoption at the age of three. Lee, an Irish Catholic, gave birth out of wedlock and, following the custom of her religious community, put her son up for adoption and agreed not to inquire about his well-being. Having kept this secret for 50 years, and unsure whether having sex or consistently lying is worse, she breaks her silence and teams with BBC reporter Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) to find her long-lost boy, Anthony. The ensuing tale is that of the oddball couple aiming to accomplish a
single mission and the story of how they were ultimately able to do so. Dench’s Philomena is spot on, evoking the sort of loving senility one has come to expect from a stereotype of an Irish grandmother. Her acting is poignant; the quest, despite all of its ups and downs, does not cause her oblivious optimism to subside, and her indecisive nature makes for a brutally exciting adventure. Dench’s role is phenomenal, no doubt, and it is hers that takes the audience on tearjerking roller coaster rides, but the emotional development within the story is Sixsmith’s. Sixsmith had just been removed from his role as a spin artist for Tony Blair after being accused of making a comment about 9/11. Despite the fallacious nature of these allegations, Sixsmith is fired and he sinks into a depressive state. Backed into a corner with nowhere else to turn, he agrees to write this human interest story. This lower art form puts
him into contact with Philomena. Coogan knows his script (expertly co-penned with veteran screenwriter Jeff Pope) and plays his character—who is humorously coy and whose brilliance is undeniable— very well off of Philomena’s lines. The contradiction between the two characters provides the impetus for Sixsmith’s change over the course of the film. The emotional development that evolves in conjunction with Sixsmith’s patience for Philomena is a direct result of brilliant exchanges between Dench and Coogan, sometimes hilarious and other times dreadfully saddening. It is this duality in the script, however, that allows Philomena to balance the emotional onslaught with comedic relief. The brief laughout-loud interludes are enough to keep the audience from sulking into the same depressive state Sixsmith found himself in at the film’s beginning.
In the film, Philomena (Judi Dench) joins with an investigative reaporter (Steve Coogan) to find her long-lost son. COURTESY OF ALEX BAILEY
MJ Chen Maroon Contributor Verdi’s La traviata (“The Fallen Woman”) has all the requisite elements of a good tearjerker: a pretty lady, a thwarted love, and some deeply poignant music. This makes it all the more disappointing that the Lyric Opera’s production, though beautifully staged and wonderfully sung , missed its swipe at the heartstrings. The opera follows Violetta Valéry, a Parisian courtesan, as she falls for dashing country boy Alfredo Germont. Though the two live happily together, Violetta ultimately gives up the man she loves for the sake of his family honor. The shock shatters her fragile health: Her tuberculosis worsens, and she reunites with her lover only briefly before dying in his arms. This all takes place on Riccardo Hernandez’s four gorgeous, minimalist sets. Aside from a few key pieces of furniture (a banquet table, for example), the stage is open, yet it does not seem bare. Cait O’Connor’s costumes set the tone of extravagance and idle luxury, especially in the party scenes. Violetta’s costume ball evokes a racy Versailles, complete with voluptuous beehive hairdos and sheeny tights—the hostess sports a skirt the size of a small sedan. In stark contrast, Violetta’s empty bedroom in the third act emphasizes her fallen state. Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka heads the cast as the consumptive courtesan. She plays a beautiful, vocally ravishing Violetta, with golden high notes and breathlessly agile coloratura. Rebeka nails the glitzy first act, soaring through her power aria “Sempre libera” with astonishing ease. In the second and third acts, however, her character comes off a bit thin. Rebeka’s Violetta is convincing, but it is difficult to sympathize with her.
Her deathbed aria “Addio, del passato,” though soft and haunting, doesn’t really resonate emotionally. Baritone Quinn Kelsey plays Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father, a character that suffers strikingly from some ambiguity in the second act. Kelsey’s Giorgio initially appears cynical and manipulative when he con-
LA TRAVIATA Lyric Opera of Chicago Through December 20
fronts Violetta and implores her to give up his son. He expresses gratitude by pulling out what is presumably a check—a slap in the face both to Violetta and to the audience. However, the character is redeemed in his consolation aria to his son, “Di Provenza il mar.” Kelsey’s baritone is rich and genuine, with a warm, flawless upper register, making Giorgio’s sore loss of his son feel honest and convincing. The true star among the cast is tenor Joseph Calleja, who shines as leading man Alfredo Germont. His characterization is spot-on: passionate but not overdone. Calleja has a thrilling, lusty voice, with clarion high notes and a virile middle register. The duet in the first act, “Un dì felice,” in which Alfredo confesses his love, showcases Calleja’s velvet sound and mastery of bel canto fireworks. I would have loved to hear him go even higher—think dazzling, Pavarotti-esque high Cs. I argue this on grounds of gender equality: If the soprano is allowed her high Cs, why shouldn’t the tenor have his? Visually and musically sound, the Lyric’s La traviata engages but does not overwhelm. Maybe I just wasn’t as emotionally invested as I could’ve been, since the patrons in front of me wouldn’t stop coughing.
“Brazilian rhythm and a laid-back New York groove” at Logan Robert Sorrell Arts Staff The Anat Cohen Quartet exploded on stage at the Logan Center last Sunday, continuing the Jazz at the Logan series with selections from Cohen’s most recent recording, Claroscuro. Cohen, a clarinet virtuoso who was voted Clarinetist of the Year six times in a row by the Jazz Journalists Association, brought an energy and excitement to the stage that is all too often absent in contemporary American jazz. The rest of the quartet— Jason Linder on piano, Joe Martin on bass, and Daniel Freedman on drums—provided stunning performances as well. The overall effect was a group of equals, rather than a backing track for Cohen’s clarinet work. The quartet looked straight out of a downtown New York jazz club: Cohen in dark jeans and a black top, Martin and Freedman wearing dress shirts open at the neck and leather dress shoes. And yet the group was far from stuffy or traditional. It quickly became clear that the quartet, though playing straight jazz, was in its own way just as playful and inventive as the experimental jazz group The Bad Plus, which opened the series in October. The quartet cre-
ated an incredibly delicate yet bold fabric of sound that was extremely full and robust but always dynamic. It was invigorating, modern, and without a single dull or repetitive moment. The concert started out with the intense “Nightmare,” originally by Artie Shaw, featuring a hectic piano solo from Jason Linder. Next, “Anat’s Dance” gave the quartet a chance to show off its technical skill. Here, Freedman’s drums gave the audience a glimpse of the insane, playful tactics he would inject into his performance throughout the afternoon, including playing the drums and cymbals with his fingers and palms, using a broom instead of jazz brushes, and licking his fingers and rubbing them on the drum head to create a strangely melodic vibration. Martin also opened up, juxtaposing traditional walking bass and intense grooves with disorienting clusters of single notes. As the song’s romping pace accelerated, Cohen set down her clarinet to walk around the stage. She shed her jacket and watched the three musicians grapple with each other. They seemed to all solo at the same time while achieving a mysterious continuity. Then the quartet took up two songs by Brazilian guitarist, singer, and composer Milton
Nascimento. As Cohen mentioned, Nascimento hails from the Minas Gerais region of Brazil, and the two pieces the quartet performed were in the style of the region, which differs slightly from the well-known Brazilian genres of bossa nova and samba. To match the mood, Freedman pulled out mallets, and Martin made his double bass sing a mellow, sweet tone using a bow. The pairing had everyone either rocking back and forth in their seats or shaking their heads in disbelief. Then, all of a sudden, Cohen put down her clarinet and picked up a tambourine; pianist Jason Linder joined her. As they beat the final notes into the ground, Martin and Freedman played with Brazilian rhythm and a laid-back New York groove. Putting down the tambourine and drum, the quartet jumped right into its incredible version of the classic “La Vie en Rose,” popularized by Edith Piaf. On Claroscuro, the track features trombonist and vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, but Cohen and company’s version surprisingly didn’t miss Gordon’s brass or Louis Armstrong–esque crooning. The quartet gave the piece a triumphant new life, keeping the notes spare and tight. Its uncluttered approach smacked of the origi-
nal excitement and glamour of jazz: infectious, uncontrollable smiling and spine tingling ensued. After wandering the stage and leaning on the piano for a bit to watch her fellow musicians at work, Cohen picked the clarinet back up, finishing off the piece with a “Rhapsody in Blue”– esque whine to the final high note, which was met with whoops and raucous applause. Cohen mentioned that being on stage with the quartet always reminds her of what “incredible, creative, and in-the-moment music jazz is.” As the quartet finished with “All Brothers” featuring a jaw-dropping five-minute drum solo, the audience was certainly reminded as well. Gathering my things after a long standing ovation, I couldn’t help but hear someone mention to a friend: “breathtaking.” The show certainly was, but the overwhelming feeling I received while exiting the theater was one of elation and excitement. It isn’t often that a jazz group can make a tired jazz standard sound vigorous. In retrospect, that’s also exactly the feeling The Bad Plus provided in October, despite its avant-garde approach and non-traditional track choices. Through its second concert, the Jazz at the Logan series firmly reminded us that jazz is still relevant. And not only that—it’s also damn good fun.
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | November 26, 2013
South Siders split pair of close games in St. Louis
First-years impress at Concordia University Open
Men’s Basketball
Wrestling
The men’s basketball team beat Whitman 81–79 last Friday, but lost to Rose-Hulman 80–85 on Saturday. COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS
Sam Zacher Associate Sports Editor With such a balanced attack, one player can struggle and the team won’t miss a beat. At the Lopata Classic in St. Louis, the Maroons (2–2) dramatically defeated Whitman (0–3) by a score of 81–79 on Friday but then fell to Rose-Hulman (1–1) 85–80 on Saturday. The South Siders showed off their deep scoring options over the weekend. Against Whitman, third-year point guard Royce Muskeyvalley scored 18 points, fourth-year forward Charlie Hughes scored 16 points, and fourthyear point guard Wayne Simon and second-year forward Nate Brooks added 14 points each. It’s tough for a game to be closer than this one was. The score was tied 13 times, and the lead changed 16 times. Chicago shot 59.6 percent
compared to 38.1 percent by the Missionaries, who played without fourth-year forward Ben Eisenhardt, a third-team All-American last season. Along with balanced scoring comes the possibility of anyone stepping up on any given night. On Friday, it was Muskeyvalley: In addition to leading Chicago in scoring, he hit a go-ahead jumper with six seconds left, putting the South Siders ahead by two. “Coach McGrath told us to get the ball to Royce [Muskeyvalley] and just get out of his way,” Brooks said. “No one really knew what he was going to do, but as soon as it went up, I knew it was good.” Although they won, the Maroons struggled with turnovers, totaling 28. However, Whitman’s defense seemed to allow Chicago to get easy baskets too. “Whitman played a really gutsy full-court press that led to a bunch of turnovers.
Whenever we beat the press, we got some really good looks because of how out of position they were,” Brooks said. In Saturday’s game, Chicago found different players to lead the offense. Fourth-year forward Sam Gage, second-year guard Jordan Smith, and Brooks each tallied 15 points. This competition went back and forth until RoseHulman found itself up by 16 in the second half. Chicago cut the deficit to four on a three-pointer by Smith, bringing the score to 84–80 with less than a minute left, but that was the end of the Maroons’ scoring. Chicago just needed one more player to step up in the second half as the South Siders fell 85–80. RoseHulman’s fourth-year guard Julian Strickland led his team with 31 points. Brooks was proud of the way the Maroons played. “I feel like we executed well on offense and defense for most of the tourney. Whitman played a pressure style of defense, and Rose was more conservative. Both really tested us offensively, and I think we responded well,” he said. “In the future, I think we just need to be more comfortable with our teammates instead of just trying to break down the pressure on our own.” Chicago will take on Illinois Tech (0–5) on Tuesday and Kalamazoo (2– 0) on Sunday. “Going forward, we just need to sit down and guard, and we’ll be on our way,” Smith said. As Smith noted, defense will certainly be key for the South Siders, who have given up 76 points or more in four out of five games thus far. That shouldn’t be too tough against Illinois Tech, which is only averaging 52.4 points per game on offense. However, Kalamazoo will be tougher competition, as it has put up 92 and 103 points in its first two games. Chicago tips off at Illinois Tech on 7 p.m. on Tuesday and at home against Kalamazoo at 3 p.m. on Sunday to work off that Thanksgiving turkey.
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David Gao Maroon Contributor The first-year Maroons set out to gain experience this weekend, but came home having accomplished much more. Chicago (0–4) attended the 21st Concordia Open tournament this past Saturday, where it placed three of its 15 wrestlers. Two of those placed finishes were by first-years. At 141 pounds, first-year Charlie Banaszak took third in his weight class, ending the day as the Maroons’ top finisher. “Going into the tournament, I didn’t feel worried about the competition level. At the collegiate level, everyone you wrestle is going to be tough, so I never really stress about who I’m wrestling. I always try and focus on myself, because the only thing I can control is how well I wrestle,” Banaszak said. The first-year picked up seven wins en route to a third-place finish, losing only one match the entire day. “Six of my seven wins were really close matches,” Banaszak said. “My parents came from Washington, D.C. to see me wrestle this weekend, so being lucky enough to have done well is really special.”
First-year Henry Powell also did well in his first tournament, taking sixth place at 149 pounds with a 3–3 record. “The five freshmen [who wrestled in the tournament] picked up great experience. They all seem to improve every time out. Henry Powell has been wrestling some tough people and was still looking for his first win this season. He got it and then kept winning and ended up in the semifinals. It was a great effort, as was Banaszak’s. Charlie knocked off some pretty good people on his way to his third place finish,” head coach Leo Kocher (M.B.A. ’87) said. Second-year Steven Franke, in the 174 pounds category, took sixth as well on a 4–3 record. “Steve Franke wrestled for us quite a bit as a freshman last year but is clearly ahead of where he left off last season,” Kocher said. Despite their success at this tournament, the Maroons know their job isn’t done, since they are only a third of the way through their season. “I was looking for two or three more placers, but I still saw good things from our wrestlers and am anxious to do the work with our guys that will put them at the level here we know they belong,” Kocher said.
In the Chatter’s Box with Sarah Langs Matt Veldman is a second-year on the swim team from Orland Park, Illinois. We chatted with him to get some insider info on the life of a Maroon athlete.
COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS
Chicago Maroon: How old were you when you began swimming? Matt Veldman: My parents put me in swim lessons as a young kid and I joined a competitive team for a couple seasons when I was around eight, but I left swimming for other sports at around nine, maybe 10. It wasn’t until freshman year of high school that I came back to it. CM: Did you always know you’d swim in college? MV: For a long time I had no intention of swimming in college, and looking back I wonder if that hindered the recruiting process for me a bit. Swimming in college was an intimidating thing for guys from our high school team, where not many continued on through college and most who did quit after a season or two. So I didn’t seriously consider it until somewhere during my senior year of high school. All that being said, I’m glad I ended up here at UChicago and I think it was a great fit for me. CM: Did you ever play any other sports? MV: I did. As mentioned above, I played other sports as a kid, which included
baseball and basketball, and those took over my attention during those years in between swimming. However, once I came back to swimming freshman year, I dropped those two and focused on swimming. I also played water polo all through high school. CM: How would you compare your diet to Michael Phelps’s? MV: Hmm, that’s tough. I definitely see a lot of similarities in the types of foods we eat—omelets, egg sandwiches, lots of pasta—but there’s no way I consume anywhere near that many calories....Eating that much honestly becomes a chore. I’ve tracked myself a couple times, and it’s really difficult to pass the 4,000–5,000 calorie mark. I think most of us on the men’s team, being swimmers and being guys, get competitive about how much we can eat and like to think we can eat more than we actually can because we think it’s impressive. That said, shout out to first-year Matt Chen, who is about 130 pounds and eats more than anyone I know on the team. CM:. Do you have a favorite professional swimmer? MV: Phelps. It’s hard not to love Phelps, I think. Swimmers my age grew up watching him at the Athens and Beijing—and Sydney if you’re a diehard fan, when Phelps was only 15—Olympics, and for a young swimmer, watching him was just magical. I think part of the reason I started swimming again in high school—apart from following in my brother’s footsteps—was watching the 2008 Olympics and Phelps. CM: As a male and a University of Chicago student—life of the mind—what’s your opinion on Ryan Lochte? MV: …I sometimes wonder if he’s as dumb as he makes himself out to be in his interviews. As a male University of Chicago student though let’s just say he isn’t the swimmer I aspire to be like. He’s kind of just a ridiculous character, and not in a good way.
SPORTS
IN QUOTES
“I don’t have a sister, but I’m going to say it’s like going to prom with your sister.” —Minnesota Vikings’ DE Jared Allen on his team’s 26–26 tie with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Women make history with fourth-place finish at NCAAs Cross Country
The women’s cross country team finished fourth at the NCAA Championship last Saturday. Second-year Catt Young, left, earned All-American honors. The men’s team finished 28th. COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS
Tatiana Fields Associate Sports Editor This weekend, for the first time in Chicago history, both the men’s and women’s teams competed at the NCAA DIII Championship.
While the No. 18 men’s team did not quite accomplish what it was hoping for with its 28thplace finish, the No. 6 women’s squad closed out its season spectacularly, improving its ranking to take fourth place behind No. 1 Johns Hopkins,
No. 2 Williams, and No. 4 Middlebury. “For the women, this capped off a great season,” head coach Chris Hall said. “We accomplished everything we set out to do. UAA champions, regional champions, and national trophy—it was all
Chicago comfortable in victory over Spartans Women’s Basketball Adam Freymiller Maroon Contributor The Maroons (3–1) faced the Manchester Spartans (1–2) in front of a raucous home crowd at a Saturday afternoon game, in which they took a sizeable lead in the second half to pull away to an 80–61 victory. Both teams initially struggled to put their stamp of authority on the game. Early on, the Maroons didn’t shoot as effectively as they had in their first three games, but nonetheless managed to make life difficult for the Spartan offense, forcing nine steals in the first half and limiting Manchester to low percentage shots. Dynamic play by third-year guard Morgan Donovan on a fastbreak layup sparked an 8–0 run about halfway through the first half, while excellent offensive hustle extended the possession on several occasions, in one instance allowing fourth-year Julie Muguira to drain a threepointer to open up a 21–15 lead. The final two minutes of the half were frenetic, as the Maroon lead evaporated
after Manchester’s Katie Arterburn scored eight points from a five-point play and a deep three-pointer to even the game at 33 apiece. However, the Maroons responded extremely well, capitalizing on Manchester turnovers to score nine points in quick succession and take a 42–35 lead into the locker room. The second half began auspiciously for Chicago, as a three-pointer by Muguira created a double-digit lead that the Maroons maintained for the rest of the game. Though their performance was by no means flawless, as evidenced by a count of 25 turnovers, the Maroons dominated their opposition in points off turnovers, rebounding, and ruthless execution from the foul line, converting 87 percent of their free throws. Their defensive display was reminiscent of their performances in last week’s home tournament: The Maroons always seemed to find the right position to force a deflection, block, or make a steal leading to a cavaliering transition at the other end, which was one major success noted by head
coach Carissa Sain Knoche. “We were able to get some more things going offensively just by playing hard. We got to loose balls, battled for offensive rebounds, and made plays just with our effort,” she said. Donovan, who led the Maroon offense with 15 points and four assists, believes that the next few games will be crucial. “After a 3–1 [record], the team morale is pretty good, but we know we have a lot to work on with an extremely important and tough stretch of games coming up,” she said. “While we have some ways to go, we are confident that we can turn this into a great season. We work to get better every day, and really push ourselves and each other at practice so that we can become the great team we have the potential to be,” first-year Stephanie Anderson said. Anderson contributed seven points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Next Sunday at 1 p.m., the Maroons will return to Ratner in a game against the Carthage Lady Reds (3–1).
we hoped for.” The fourth-place performance for the Maroons is the best NCAA team finish in school history; Chicago’s previous best was sixth place in 1998. Secondyear Catt Young led the team, finishing in ninth place with a time of 21:31.5. With this performance, Young captured All-American honors, becoming the 11th All-American in team history. Fourth-year Michaela Whitelaw wrapped up her career with a 43rdplace finish, with a time of 22:07.4. Whitelaw and fourth-year Elise Wummer, who finished 216th, will be the only graduating members of the group that competed at Nationals: The remainder of the team is in its second year. The Maroons sent seven athletes to compete in a field of 280 runners, where they tallied 261 points and were very pleased with their final finish among the 32 competing teams. “Our women had a great meet,” Hall said. “Going into the season, we felt that if everything came together perfectly, we may be able to finish in the top four at the NCAAs. We finished in a tie with MIT and defeated them on the tiebreaker to accomplish the
goal of fourth, and we did have an outstanding meet.” While the men’s team was overshadowed by the women’s strong finish, several individuals competed well. Fourth-year captain Dan Povitsky was the top finisher for the men’s squad, taking 58th place with a time of 25:37.6. Second-year Michael Frasco took 156th place with a time of 26:17.6, and fourthyear Samuel Butler finished in 179th (26:26.4) to close out the top three for Chicago out of the seven sent to Nationals. “Our men’s team was disappointed in the overall finish, but [this was] the first time we have been at this meet since 2005, and the challenge of being in this very unique environment was difficult to prepare for,” Hall said. After three months of competing that started in late August, this meet wrapped up a very successful season for both the men’s and women’s teams. “We could not be more pleased with the overall season and the experience of being in this meet. This was a really special way to culminate the season: an opportunity to compete against the very best at the end of the year,” Hall said.
Maroons dominate Phoenix Classic Swimming & Diving Charlotte Franklin Maroon Contributor President John F. Kennedy once said, “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.” But after this past weekend’s performance at the Phoenix Fall Classic, it is clear that “settling for second” was never an option for the men’s and women’s squads. Both teams swam away with their share of victories last weekend. The Maroons set three pool records in addition to nine school records and captured 33 NCAA B-cut times. “This weekend was probably the most successful Phoenix Classic we have ever had. As a team, we broke multiple pool and school records, [set] a ton of personal best times, and won multiple events,” said third-year diver Anthony Restaino. “The best part is that this is still pretty early in the season, and we are only going to get better as the season continues.” The men’s team finished the three-day opening invitational with 931 points, nearly 200 points ahead of second-place competitor William Jewell College, which finished with 731.5 points. The women’s squad also had reason to
celebrate, beating runner-up Hillsdale College 875.5– 616.5. The highly anticipated performances of the first-years did not disappoint: Jonas Fowler set a school record in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:02.31 and an NCAA B-cut. Jeremy Estes also contributed by securing two freestyle relay victories. In the 400-yard IM, Matthew Chen and Kevin Ku also received NCAA B-cuts. Not to be outdone by the first-year men, the firstyear women came ready to compete. Alison Wall and Abby Erdmann each had two wins in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly, respectively, and each earned two NCAA B-cuts. Maya Scheidl participated in the 400-yard freestyle relay where she also received a NCAA B-cut. “We normally do not see performances like these until the UAA Championships in February. Several alumni who were tracking the meet results this weekend have contacted me to express how impressed they are with our performance and how incredibly proud they are of us,” said third-year captain Jenny Hill. Other top finishers for the men included second-year
Matthew Veldman, with a NCAA B-cut in the 100-yard butterfly; third-year Andrew Angeles, who earned a NCAA B-cut in the 200-yard breaststroke; Restaino (threemeter dive); and fourth-year Eric Hallman (400-yard freestyle relay). On the women’s side, second-year Ciara Hu (400yard IM), Hill (200-yard breaststroke), and secondyear Jenna Harris (400-yard freestyle relay) all earned NCAA B-cuts. Third-year captain Sofia Gross finished first in the one-meter dive. “The team’s performance at Phoenix was a preview of what is to come in the second half of our season…. After a more relaxed week of training over Thanksgiving break, we will resume our intense training schedule to gear up for our weeklong training trip in San Diego over winter break,” Hill said, “I know that the coaches, alumni, friends, and fans are expecting excellence from this team, and I have no doubt that we will not disappoint.” The next meet will be the Chicago Invitational on Friday and Saturday, December 10–11 at MyersMcLoraine Pool. Editor’s Note: Jenna Harris is a Maroon contributor.